Chara heard voices echoing down the hall. They paused, turning to look over their shoulder.

Flowey popped up beside them, scowling. He had been sulking since yesterday, although Chara wasn't sure why. They didn't really care enough to ask.

"It's the smiley trashbag and company," Flowey said, needlessly answering a question Chara didn't even have. "They're just leaving his area."

More sulking. Chara's lips twitched; their sibling really hadn't matured since the two's untimely death. It was somewhat amusing to see. They guessed he was miffed about Gaster for some reason, but his problems weren't really Chara's concern. If his issues were going to get in Chara's way, they were certain he'd have said something.

Chara turned back to stare down the corridor. They could hear Sans' voice, now that he was getting closer. Frisk, of course, was silent, but that didn't really mean anything. They could be talking even more than Sans and Chara wouldn't know unless they were watching.

"They sound upset," Chara said after a moment.

Flowey scoffed, turning away. "What, they're having troubles on the Surface? Oh no. Imagine that."

Chara ignored him, instead walking past the flower and heading down the hallway. They had hid from those two's sight long enough. What could Sans do to them, anyways? Nothing, that's what.

"Chara?" Flowey called. "Where are you…?"

Chara waved a hand at him without looking back. "Sans can't see me anyways," they answered without slowing down. "I'm going to go look."

They didn't wait for Flowey to protest, striding towards the voices. They were getting closer, and Chara could now make out the individual words.

"it's obvious now that i, um, think about it. i've studied magic residue just like gaster but i never thought it would… well. my bad."

Silence.

"haha, yup. it does have some serious… ramifications. especially now that all of that magic energy isn't "here" anymore. i'll talk to alph, see if she can work on this. if we're not careful, we might have a lot of very startled humans suddenly seeing their SOULS…"

Chara rounded the corner just in time to see Frisk motion something at Sans. The human was slightly taller now, and their clothes were different. The purple sweater and white emblem marked Frisk as what Chara might have once been, but that was of no matter. Chara told themself it didn't matter, not really.

...At least it wasn't a yellow and green sweater.

Frisk shifted forwards and they paused, eyes widening as they caught sight of Chara standing in the duo's direct path in the dim, flickering light. It was night time now, so the Core was running at low power.

"...kid?" Sans asked after his eyes darted to where Chara was. "what are ya looking at?"

"He still can't see me, huh?" Chara said cheerfully, waving. "Hiya Frisk! It's me, Chara, remember?"

Frisk's eyes darted to Sans and back and they tentatively smiled and weakly waved back. (Um, Sans?) They signed after a beat.

"what is it, kiddo?"

(Ummm. It's. Chara. Chara's here,) they signed, looking slightly alarmed. Interesting.

What was even more interesting, however, was the instant appearance of not one, but five gaster blasters. Sans' eye was an instant shade of brilliant blue, hand outstretched and eye darting around as he searched for Chara.

"where?" He demanded tersely, eyes narrowing.

"He can't honestly think he can kill me- right?" Chara giggled. "Too bad, though. Sans wasn't exactly free of LV points, either, but he never gained enough at one time coupled with enough determination to see me. He'd be a fun target to bother in this form."

(Why are you here?) Frisk signed, frowning disapprovingly at Chara. (I haven't seen you since… well. Since the end of the RESETS. I went looking for you and Flowey but…)

"Don't worry, Asriel and I are fine. We've just been keeping to ourselves a bit." Chara studied Sans, walking around him for a moment and sticking their tongue out at the skeleton.

(O-oh. So… So what do you need now?)

"kid, what're they doing?" Sans demanded just as Chara started making faces right in front of him. "you know i don't like this entire situation as it is. we don't need to deal with multiple troublemakers in one day. this one especially is quite the ghostly sort, i don't wanna mess with 'em."

"Poor Sans. Always so wary~" Chara backed away shrugging. "No. I was just bored, so I came to say hey. You can leave now. I won't stop you."

Frisk stared at them, expression troubled before they nodded. (Okay. Are- Are you doing okay since…?)

As kind and caring as ever. Chara's eyes narrowed. Hmm. They had thought that something would have changed by now…

"I'm doing great!" They smiled, baring teeth at Frisk. "It's you I've been worried about: after all, humans aren't the nicest bunch, huh?"

Bull's eye. Frisk winced, eyes darting to Sans and back. (Yeah. I'm- we're- all fine too.) They nodded at Chara and said their goodbyes, insistently tugging Sans by the jacket as they stepped past Chara. Chara merely stepped aside, smirking at them confidently.

They watched as the two walked away, Sans constantly glancing over his shoulder as the gaster blasters hovered nearby, eyes glowing, until all seven of them vanished around the corner. Chara's grin widened and they crossed their arms and leaned against the hallway's wall, humming to themself.

"Chara…" A voice suddenly piped up beside them. "You're doing your creepy face again. What are you planning…?"

Chara merely shrugged, twisting a strand of hair around their finger. No one said they couldn't have fun watching the timeline crash and burn even without their interference. In fact, watching Frisk break without some anomaly pulling the strings might be one of the most interesting runs yet.

Chara was done with being bored.

.

Sans sat fiddling with a Rubix Cube. It was a welcome break from the thoughts spinning around in his head, and he blearily rubbed his eyes as he shifted on the couch. Frisk lay passed out beside him, but Sans didn't think he could also drift off into dreamland this time. Facing Gaster was cause for alarm by itself; at least Sans could see him.

Chara, however? Sans had no idea what they were thinking. The only three times Sans had ever exchanged words with them were the attempts of taking over Frisk's body they pulled off.

Not exactly a nice start to a friendship.

Sans' eyes drifted back over to Frisk's quiet sleeping form and he watched their chest rise and fall. They had taken Gaster's information better than expected. Sans didn't think there was a cure for their SOUL coming out so often- now that he thought about it, it was at least as often as a monster's SOUL coming out or perhaps even more frequently at that- but Frisk had accepted this relatively easily. Maybe it was because they were adopted by monsters so it was something that made them similar to their friends and family instead of different.

Sans sighed. Something like this gave Frisk empathy for monsters no other human would ever have, as the monster's culture and etiquette regarding SOULS could never be duplicated by regular human SOULS. The constant fear of someone attacking your SOUL directly with no warning or attack initiation would also be unique to Frisk, if the sheer amount of magic radiation didn't turn more human children into magic hotspots.

But it could also make things worse for the kiddo, too. Sans wasn't blind; he had seen Frisk's nervous glances and wary expressions around humans. It was hard to miss their fear. Frisk had never told anyone why they fell down Mt. Ebott but…

Sans sighed. It seemed he and Frisk shared many things in common.

Sans' phone started vibrating in his pocket and Sans flicked it on, squinting in the blue light.

ALPHYS sent you a text.

*sans text me back! ):

*sans!

*hey, r u there?

Sans studied the texts, all sent within the past minute. "now what is it?" He muttered warily, flicking his thumbs against the phone's screen. He paused for a moment, considering, and then got up and stepped into the kitchen, dialing Alphys' number.

For once, she picked up almost immediately. "Sans!" She squawked over the phone. "I can't believe this, did you hear about what happened? Oh my gosh this isn't good, we have to call Asgore right now and-"

"alph, it's literally three am. what's so important that you're calling me at this hour?" He asked, keeping his voice guarded.

"What?! Oh! S-Sorry! ...Is it a bad time?" Alphys asked sheepishly, her voice dropping back to manageable levels.

Sans shrugged, leaning against the fridge. "nah, you're fine. what's pullin' at your leg?"

"Those darn p-paparazzi!" Alphys instantly huffed. "They started investigating Frisk!"

Sans blinked. Okay. That wasn't what he was expecting this to be about. "investigating? for what, crimes? the kid's nine. although i'm pretty sure they were arrested for being too cute just last week..."

"This isn't a joke, Sans!" Alphys said. "The human media is a-asking questions about them. Why they only interact with monsters on a daily basis, why they go to a monster school."

"alph, it's just some idiots online spreading rumors, this isn't-"

"Sans, if this keeps up there's talk about taking Frisk away from us."

Sans froze. "what?"

"Yeah! Like, u-um, some reporters are starting to question if monsters are "fit" to take care of a human kid and are nosing around for Frisk's official birth certificate and adoption papers. W-We don't have those!" Alphys argued. "M-Monsters don't have paperwork for all the things humans do. I s-should've realized this sooner but…"

"so? what do we do?" Sans asked quietly, covering the phone's speaker with his hand and turning away from the area Frisk was sleeping in. "they can't do that. can they?"

"I- No, I don't think so. Not yet." Alphys paused, voice wary. "It's just a few people online, but this could b-blow up quickly if we don't do something fast."

"got it. i'll see what i can do. maybe toriel can help." Sans moved to hit "end call" but then paused. "and alph? Don't mention this to the kid just yet. they've... had a long week."

"Y-You can count on me," Alphys replied, and Sans hung up with a click.

.

The sun was already high in the sky when Frisk woke up. They stretched, sitting up and rubbing their eyes as they blinked and looked around.

"morning sleepyhead," Sans greeted them, looking up from his phone. Papers were scattered around him and he looked vaguely tired, but Frisk didn't comment on it. They knew how nights without sleep felt, at any rate.

(Is Papyrus gone already?) They signed, curiously looking around.

Sans got up, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. "yup, we were running low on food again. undyne and alphys are coming over later, thought we could have some fun going to an amusement park or somethin'. after everything that happened yesterday, i think we all deserve a break."

(Yeah.) Frisk walked past Sans, noticing a newspaper announcing the new law banning public displays of magic on the front page. They ignored it, stepping over the scattered pages to go into the kitchen and grab the cereal and milk. Sans was right; they were low on milk. (So, um. My SOUL… are you sure everything's all right?)

Sans shrugged, reaching for the cereal and just eating it draw from the box without bothering to get a bowl. "that's partially why i invited alph over. she can check on your SOUL and make sure you're fine."

(Oh. That's good.)

Sans studied them, his eyes serious. "kiddo, honestly? i think you're gonna be fine. it's really not that big of a deal. but you know we're all here for you, right?"

Frisk smiled. (Yeah. I'm aware of that.) They shifted, turning to stare into their bowl as they poked at the cereal with their spoon. (About yesterday… Chara didn't seem to be up to anything really. They were acting a bit strange, but that might just be from boredom. I don't think they meant any harm from it.)

"eh. water under the bridge now," Sans lied. "don't worry 'bout me. just take care of yourself, all right?"

(Of course.)

Sans hesitated for a moment, studying Frisk for a moment longer. "hey kiddo, can you still…? i mean, like, SAVE and stuff?"

Frisk looked down at their lap. (Yes.) They looked back up, meeting Sans with a nervous smile. (But I don't! Not anymore! After everything, of course I wouldn't do anything bad.)

Sans reached over and ruffled their hair. "nah, i'm not worried 'bout that. it's just better to know that you have it," he said with a grin. "rather than someone else."

Frisk giggled and nodded, and the doorbell suddenly rang.

"Hey! We're here, open the door already!" A familiar voice outside shouted.

Sans and Frisk turned to look at each other just as they heard Alphys shout "N-no Undyne, wait, that's not how you open the door-"

Crash.

.

.

.

((The first and worst test is done. Five more to go over the course of the month, but they shouldn't be quite so bad. Hopefully.

So many POV skips in this chapter though! I prefer keeping to one or two so this was a bit difficult to fit together. Anyways, onwards with the plot!

Shout out to my rat, who literally just sat on my shoulder and slept while I wrote this entire chapter. She's a good writing companion when she's not squirming the entire time.

Thanks for reading and reviewing!))